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Emma Willis and Rylan Clark oversee a new series of Celeb Big Bro which promises to be an interesting year (Picture: C5)

It’s the new year, it’s a rainy Friday night, it’s time to welcome some new celebrities into the Celebrity Big Brother 2014 house.

Yes, the first reality TV show of the year kicked off as 12 new celebs – including Jim Davidson, Dappy, Sam Faiers, Lee Ryan, Ollie Locke, Lionel Blair and Evander Holyfield (and some models of course) – decided they needed to spend a few weeks in a house full of cameras. But fair play to Five because this looks like a good year for their flagship show…

The show began with host Emma Willis taking us on a tour around the new house (apparently ‘Russian opulence is a theme’ this year?) but everyone just really wanted to get on with the main business of the night and find out who would be living there.

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The ‘fun’ of the evening was to be that all celebrities would be handcuffed into pairs for the foreseeable (Jim was particularly concerned about how they would go to the toilet if they were all chained together).

I quite like Big Brother because it is still the only show that tries to keep the new contestants a secret, so instead of a big photostory reveal we have to wait until the actual launch night to see whose legs will be getting out of the limos. And there are always a few surprises…

First up was Marmite comedian Jim Davidson who admitted to being ‘grumpy’ and hoped there would be lots of women with ‘big knockers’ in the house. But he was still kind of cheered by the underwhelmed crowd. I’d have honestly thought after being kicked off Hell’s Kitchen he’d have been put off reality TV?

He was joined by singing sister Linda Nolan who admitted she didn’t like celebrities ‘who had just taken their clothes off or slept with somebody to become famous’ and ‘God help me if Jim Davidson is in there’ so of course she was handcuffed to him to enter the house.

Clever. They were given the secret power by Big Brother to release one of the future pairs.

We all knew it – Dappy from N-Dubz was up next complaining that that the media had painted him to be ‘some kind of monster’. He was chained to controversial, confessional columnist Liz Jones – not afraid to speak her mind she will certainly cause some problems in the house.

Dappy and Liz Jones were handcuffed together (Picture: C5)

TOWIE’S Sam Faiers – with her answer to ex-boyfriend Joey Essex’s recent successful stint on I’m A Celebrity – entered the house next looking very glam indeed. Her handcuff partner was unknown US model Jasmine Waltz and of course Twitter exploded with the ‘who is she?’ and ‘isn’t this meant to be the celebrity version?’ comments.

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And then surprising everyone (not) Blue’s charming Lee Ryan turned up declaring he was in the best band in the world and that he was an ‘eccentric’ and talking about badgers and hedgehogs. He certainly got the biggest cheers of the night.

He was attached to glamour model Casey Batchelor who asked ‘shall I just get them out?’ and confessed that she could ‘drink a lot’. Oooh she’s going to be tons of fun. Lee seemed a bit nervous.

Made In Chelsea’s Ollie Locke was then revealed as the next housemate and said he wanted to be naughty in the house. He was shackled to song and dance legend Lionel Blair who in his 80s is the oldest celebrity on the show.

Ollie and Lionel will be each other’s Big Bro buddy (Picture: C5)

He said he would be the father of the house and just wanted people to like him. That made me feel a bit sad. On his way into the house you could hear him asking his new partner ‘What’s your name?’.

The final pairing was made up of The Apprentice runner-up and sexy baker Luisa Zissman who was bizarrely (and embarrassingly) chained to boxer Evander Holyfield – the famous US import of the show. He promised he wouldn’t hit anyone in the house ‘because I don’t hit no one for free’. Ok good.

Everyone stood around awkwardly and toasting each other until Big Brother stepped in and asked Linda and Jim for their decision on who should be cut free. They chose Dappy and Liz because they thought they looked a bit ‘stressed’ and Jim wanted Liz to ‘glide into’ her Big Brother experience.

What a kind twosome, because yes that pairing certainly looked like it had the possibility to turn into a problem. Linda and Jim have certainly earned a few brownie points there.

But then Big Brother turned the screws and announced that Liz and Dappy would pay a price for their freedom by facing the first public eviction on Monday as a pair, along with two others. Welcome back Big Brother, we might just have missed you?

Casey Bachelor is best known for her 34GGs (Picture: Channel 5)

Sam Faiers. Sam Faiers shot to fame as one of the original stars of reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex, memorably getting a vajazzle and having an on/off relationship with Joey Essex
 In her younger years, Sam trained alongside Great Britain gymnastics and has admitted it’s left her “quite supple”
 She almost became a Page 3 girl for The Sun before she found fame on TOWIE but still admits she’d love to model for Ann Summers (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

Dappy .  Costadinos Contostavlos, known as Dappy, is a British rapper of Greek descent. Dappy formed NDubz with friend, Fazer, and his cousin Tulisa when they were 13. The controversial singer is known for his catchphrase ‘Na Na Niii’ and wearing woollen hats that have been coined ‘Dappy hats’. Dappy has also had his fair share of run ins with the law  Dappy met Richard ‘Fazer’ Rowson at a karate class aged 9 and they started writing songs together. Recruiting his cousin Tulisa to share vocals, N-Dubz was formed in 2000, playing gigs round pubs and clubs in Camden

Luisa made the lewd offer to Dappy after they rowed (Picture: Channel 5)

Evander Holyfield. Often referred to as ‘The Real Deal’ Evander is known for being a four-time world heavyweight boxing champion. On 28th June 1997, Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander’s ear during the famous ‘Bite Fight’ at the MGM Grand Las Vegas
 Evander took boxing lessons aged 8. He competed as amateur in the Golden Gloves competitions in the early 1980s. After winning a national Golden Gloves Championship in 1984, Holyfield made the U.S. Olympic team (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

Jasmine Waltz was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has appeared in films and TV shows such as Pledge This alongside Paris Hilton and Rules of Engagement; but is best known for being a fixture on the celebrity dating circuit. Her exes include Ryan Seacrest, Jesse McCartney, Chris Pine and David Arquette  In 2010 she was accused of punching Lindsay Lohan in the face on her 24th birthday in a jealous fury over Danny Cipriani. It’s claimed that Jasmine ran across to Lindsay’s table and struck her across the face. A witness said: “They exchanged words then, before anyone could intervene, Jasmine leapt on Lindsay and attacked her”

Ollie is now favourite to win the show (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

Controversial comedian, Jim Davidson has been in showbiz since getting his big break in New Faces in 1976. As well as gigging around the UK doing stand-up, he dominated the small screen throughout the 80s and 90s, presenting What Happened Next, The Jim Davidson Show and The Generation Game
 The cockney comedian has had a tumultuous personal life with four failed marriages and two visits to rehab. He has openly spoken about his 20 year battle with alcohol and declared bankruptcy in 2006: ‘Being an alcoholic is about more than drinking alcohol, it’s about doing and saying outrageous things and spending too much money. I haven’t got it under control. I don’t drink as much as I used to, but I cheat a bit’ he says. In July 2000, Jim appeared on documentary Celebrity Rehab to talk about his battles and admitted to an addictive personality including an addiction to sex (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

Lee Ryan . Lee Ryan is an English singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known for being a member of the British boy band Blue. The band have sold over 14million records worldwide
 Blue has four members – Lee along with Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Antony Costa. In 2001 Lee released his debut single with Blue, ‘All Rise’ and at 17 he was the youngest member of the band. Notorious for his enthusiastic and mischievous performances, Lee soon became a favourite with fans, old and young

Linda Nolan . Nicknamed the ‘Naughty Nolan’ due to her risqué photo shoots Linda Nolan has been singing since the age of 4 when she hit stardom with her sisters in the family act, The Nolans. In 1974, The Nolans made their television debut on Cliff Richard’s TV show, singing “Stuck on You”
 Their chart breakthrough came in 1978 with the covers album 20 Giant Hits on Target, which reached No.3 in the UK. That year, they also supported Engelbert Humperdinck on a US tour(Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

Lionel Blair . Lionel Blair is a British TV personality and is best known as a panellist on Give Us A Clue. When asked about his age, he says, “I say I am 59 plus VAT.”
 Lionel Blair was born in Canada and came to Britain when he was two years old. His first public performances were with his sister Joyce in London Underground Stations and air raid shelters during World War II. He attended the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1944, followed by London’s University of East London, where he majored in Ethnography. Blair eventually rekindled his passion with musical theatre and joined the West End. He gave up acting for dancing in 1947 although he subsequently appeared in the fringe production, Out of the Blue and Who Killed Agatha Christie?’ amongst other acting credits (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)

 Liz Jones is a British journalist. A former editor of Marie Claire, she has been on the staff of The Sunday Times and the Evening Standard. Jones currently writes columns for the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday
 Liz claims she was anorexic since she was approximately 11 and by the age of 17 she wished to look like model Janice Dickinson. Discovering Vogue magazine was a revelation for her: “It wasn’t just a magazine to me, its cover was a mirror: how I wanted to look, dress and be” (Picture: Matt Frost / Channel 5)